Patriot Day ceremony returns to downtown Homewood

It has been four years since Homewood last hosted Patriot Day, the annual remembrance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the event returns this year to Homewood City Hall.

The ceremony will begin around 9 a.m. on Sept. 11 in front of City Hall at 2850 19th St. South, said Homewood Fire Battalion Chief Nick Hill.

An honor guard made up of police and fire department members will be at the ceremony, along with a bagpipe player, Hill said. No speaker was confirmed at press deadline.

In the event of rain, the event will be moved inside City Hall.

Hill said the mood of the ceremony is respectful and helps remind the first responders there of the seriousness of their work.

“Nobody wants to think about dying,” Hill said. “It lets you know [that in] what we do, [at] any moment, that could all be us.”

Hill said the tragic events of that day, in which almost 3,000 people died, affected more than just first responders.

“People in the World Trade Center, people on the planes … there just going about their day,” Hill said. “[They were] innocent victims. Their job didn’t require them to put their lives on the line.”

 The location of Homewood’s Patriot Day remembrance ceremony rotates between Homewood, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills and last year was held in in Vestavia Hills. It has been four years since it was held in Homewood because the ceremony was canceled in 2017 due to inclement weather.